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| Phony Society-- We Reject Your False Values |
I am very gratified to say that Raven Records has released a greatest hits of the IRS years compilation of the Fleshtones. There is all but one of the Roman Gods tracks, about half of Hexbreaker, live tracks, singles, and two songs off their Upfront Ep (wish they had the whole thing).
The Fleshtones are one of the ultimate party bands, a potent concoction of garage rock, psychedelia, surf rock, and RnB. Founded in Queens in 1976, the band helped spearhead the garage revival of the 80's, at a time when such a subgenre was considered passe by the cognescentis of good taste. But they persevered and have continued to put out a slew of releases throughout the following decades. The lineup featured front man Peter Zaremba who was also host of MTV's The Cutting Edge in the 80's. Keith Streng was the Guitar and Jan-Marek Pakulski played Bass. Gordon Spaeth was on Sax and Bill Milhizer was their drummer. From top to bottom this Cd is a blast. They are masters of this genre but not in preservationist sort of way. These guys rock out on all 25 tracks here--I think they did a great remastering job on this one.
I saw these guys 25 years ago at Irving Plaza in New York. I can't remember much about the show now but I do know I enjoyed the sloppy exuberant performance. I think they took one of the drums and did a sort of a Conga line out of the venue at the end. But I'm glad to say I saw them. They really are an extraordinary band live, which has earned them a very loyal fan base. I saw them when I was home from College on Christmas break, and they seemed like the perfect keg party band to me at the time. All these years later and after innumerable gigs they are still unbeatable.
The non-hits are all here. Most are originals though they all sound like long lost Nuggets from some obscure 60' s compilation. Let's See The Sun, What's So New (About You)?, The World Has Changed are all songs that sound older than their years. One of my favorites is The Girl From Baltimore from their first Ep. Unfortunately the comp doesn't have Cold Cold Shoes, or their cover of the Stones' Play With Fire that were also on the Ep. Of course, there are the Halloween tracks, like the raving B-movieisms of Screamin' Skull, The Dreg, the mystery beat of Shadow Line, Hexbreaker, Roman Gods, and Return To The Haunted House. It makes you want to howl.
On Super Rock! you have the stomping RnB of R.I.G.H.T.S, and a sweet take on Lee Dorsey's classic Ride Your Pony. There is the American Beat tune from the Bachelor Party soundtrack with its lengthy musical syllabus at the end. The instrumental track The Theme From "The Vindicators" completely rocks out, as does Roman Gods. New Scene is another great track, an organ drenched fuzzed out big medallion teensploitation track. "We're Young We're Cool, and We Care". The darker edged and melancholy Hope Come Back shows another side of the Fleshtones songwriting chops. I've Gotta Change My Life is another fast paced psychedelic gem, just as Right Side Of A Good Thing is infectiously uptempo soul music.
In other Fleshtone news, Raven Records, in addition to this anthology, has released a Hexbreaker/Speed Connection Live in Paris twofer Cd. In light of this develop, I wish they had just released a Romans Gods Cd with the full Upfront ep and singles. Nonetheless this is one tight collection for any fan of high octane Rock Music. If you like garage music, or are into bands like Hoodoo Gurus,Young Fresh Fellows or the Dirtbombs you can't go wrong with this.
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